Stablecoins now represent 16.77% of the entire cryptocurrencies market capitalization, with a market cap of $154.6 billion, according to data from various platforms.
The total crypto market cap is $940 billion, as of June 20, 2022.
Stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to fiat currencies, are commonly used by crypto traders to shield against price volatility since they will not lose value in case of a downturn.
When you look at crypto rankings on platforms like CoinGecko, you will see that three stablecoins are in the top 10 digital currencies. All 3 are the fiat-backed stables:
- Tether ($USDT) @ $68.5B
- USD Coin ($USDC) @ $54.3B
- Binance USD ($BUSD) @ $17.3B
You also have to remember that the algorithmic stablecoin, $UST, was in the top 10 a few months back before it wildly lost its peg, and sent crypto markets tumbling in May 2022. Not far off at 12th place on the crypto rankings is $DAI, the algorithmic over-collateralized stablecoin with a market capitalization of $6.4B.
Something you won’t fail to notice among the stablecoins is that $USDC has been gaining significantly while $USDT has been declining. You can see $USDC climbing sharply on May 8 2022, based on this graphic from DeFiLlama that shows the market dominance of the stablecoins:
On the graphic:
- The blue section represents $USDT whose dominance stands at 44.31%
- Brown is $USDC
- Purple is $BUSD
- Light Purple is $DAI
In fact $USDT circulation has fallen by 6.7% over the last 30 days, while USDC has climbed by 5.7%
Still, USDT’s 24 hour volume at $47 billion currently dwarfs USDC’s $5.6 billion. The $USDT share of trading volume is massive given that its total 24-Hr trading volume is $58.9 billion at the time of this writing.
The role of stablecoins in the market becomes more apparent when you see that total trading volume in the last 24 hours for all cryptos is at $86.1 billion as of June 20 2022.
